For several centuries, Russian lands paid tribute to the Golden Horde. Princes from generation to generation went to the Horde to pay give, exchange hostages and take labels for reigning. The liberation of Russia from the Horde yoke took place in 1480. This date was a turning point in the history of our state.
Mongol-Tatar yoke
The occupation of the entire northeastern region of Russian territory was beyond the power of the Golden Horde. But the invaders needed these lands as a permanent reliable source of tribute. The Tatars did not have garrisons on Russian territory, they did not establish their permanent power. But, despite the annual monetary offerings, the Tatar-Mongols did not at all guarantee the protection of the principalities. The borders of Russia were constantly invaded by Swedish and Lithuanian troops. From within, the country was torn apart by contradictions and civil strife. The invaders understood that a fragmented state would not be able to give them a worthy rebuff, so they carefully incited hatred between neighboring principalities.
Ivan Kalita
In 1327, the only uprising of the people against the Horde yoke took place. Russia fearfully awaited a new punitive raid. At this moment, Ivan Kalita appears on the political horizon. Unable to retreat before the Tatar-Mongols, he decides on the only right way out, from his point of view - to lead the army of the Golden Horde against Moscow's old enemy - the Tver principality.
For this, Kalita received a label from the Horde Khan and became. Thus, the liberation of Russia from the Horde yoke did not take place.
The Age of Strength
In the end, Moscow rose above other cities and became the center of the lands of South-Eastern Russia. Prince Ivan Kalita did a lot to strengthen the city and to ensure that hordes of Horde robbers no longer appeared on Russian lands. His policy was successfully continued by Simeon the Proud. In 1346 he reached a reconciliation with Tver and even married one of the daughters of Prince Vsevolod of Tver. Thus gradually began the reconciliation of the Russian princes.
The second memorable date in the liberation of Russia from the Horde yoke was 1362. At this time, the khan gave a label for the great reign to the nephew of Simeon the Proud - Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy. In the same year, the name Mamai appeared in Russian chronicles. No one could then admit that after many years they would have to meet, and this battle would be one of the greatest battles of the Middle Ages. Donskoy brought closer the liberation of Russia from the Horde yoke. Mamai defended the state once created by Batu. The question was as follows: will Dmitry Ivanovich have time to collect Russian lands around Moscow, or will Mamai come with his army to strangle Moscow sedition.
Battle of Kulikovo
Donskoy was only 20 years old when the need arose to repulse the Golden Horde. The Russian state developed trade and cultural relations with Western countries, this contributed to the development of military affairs and the growth of industry. It took time to develop tactics and retrain the troops. Do not forget that a strong centralized power required the liberation of Russia from the Horde yoke.
The year and century of the Battle of Kulikovo were carefully chosen. The Moscow principality already had economic and military levers of influence on the allies, so the consolidation of the forces of the Russian army and the development of tactics were quite successful.
The Battle of Kulikovo took place on September 8, 1380. For the first time, the Russian army managed to give a worthy rebuff. The horde had a numerical advantage over the troops of the Don, but the right tactics bore fruit - the main forces of Mamai were destroyed, and the khan had to retreat. But, despite the fact that the liberation of Russia from the Horde yoke did not take place this time, the Battle of Kulikovo became the beginning of the revival of national identity. And the Golden Horde continued to try to restore its influence and prevent the unification of Russian lands.
The era of Ivan III
The period became a time of strengthening Russian troops and cordons of the state. The Kazan kingdom was the first conquest of the tsar, after which he was able to subjugate Veliky Novgorod. Such military activity disturbed him and he began to prepare an invasion. By 1480, everything was ready for the liberation of Russia from the Horde yoke finally took place. The year and century for this were not chosen by chance - Russia became a major political and economic center with its own, rather strong army.
The news that Khan Akhmat was preparing for battle came to Moscow in the early autumn of 1480. Grand Duke Ivan III set up his strongest regiments on the Oka River. Khan Akhmat found out that he was being met, and turned to Kaluga to unite with his ally Kazimir. Having correctly determined the direction of movement of the troops of the Golden Horde, Ivan III intercepted the enemy on Akhmat and threatened to launch an offensive when the river was covered with ice. October 26 Ugra rose. Akhmat also stood. On November 11, despite the fact that all the paths to the offensive were open, the khan turned back. On this day, the liberation of Russia from the Horde yoke is celebrated.
Conclusion
The heroic struggle of the Russian people against the invaders ensured the disruption of the Tatar-Mongolian expansion. For 240 years, the Russian state protected Europe from the dark Asian horde, took upon itself the brunt of the foreign invasion and repulsed the blows of the invaders. The year of the liberation of Russia from the Horde yoke allowed our state to follow the path of its own development.
Oscar Jaeger.
The World History. In 4 vols. T. 2. Middle Ages. In 4 books. - St. Petersburg, 1997-1999
BOOK FOUR
From Rudolf of Habsburg to the Beginning of the Reformation (1273-1517)
CHAPTER SEVEN
Late Middle Ages. Formation of the Ottoman Empire. Countries of Southeast Europe. The final "collection" of the Russian land. Liberation of Russia from the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Formation of a centralized Moscow State
Dissolution of the cathedral. Time after the council of 1449
The great idea which lay at the basis of the conciliar movement, according to which the fundamental transformation of the Church was to take place without breaking with the past and through its organs, therefore, by the peaceful rebirth of European society on the soil of an enlightened, restored Christianity—this sublime idea was not realized. The ordinary, the ordinary, the former has again achieved its rights - the rights of the owner. However, a completely different time began with the Cathedral of Constance and the death of Jan Hus. The work of liberation began in millions of human souls, which, a century later, had already taken such a step that a simple and in itself insignificant incident in a small German university could contribute to the breakthrough of that new worldview that distinguishes the modern times from the so-called Middle Ages. The two generations that share the end of the Council of Basel and the first speech of Martin Luther have passed in the midst of a strong development of society on the path of progress. This period of time was not marked by outstanding, first-class minds, but there were many efficient people in it, those useful, active, obscure ones who, not caring about what was happening in the so-called big light, worked in close circles, on precisely defined grounds, and proved to be useful, often inventive, even gifted and creative. This is how a whole world of new countries opens beyond hitherto unknown seas, when the leading ship slowly and carefully moves from coast to coast, from cape to cape. With the same difficulty, passing from concept to concept, humanity conquers a new inner world, striving for the light. Individual successes elude the eyes of contemporaries, the most deserving persons go to the grave without recognizing the full extent of what they have accomplished. But those who live later appreciate this all the more clearly, and the history of the sixty years described seems all the more gratifying because it is not the greats of this world that act in it, but the working crowd with its leaders, and everything is distinguished by a plebeian character. But first of all, we need to consider the external political history European states with outstanding events, in order to understand the internal life of peoples and those acquisitions in the field of various human interests that characterize the state of all Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. In gratitude for his quite correct, according to the curia, policy, King Frederick III received the imperial crown in Rome in 1452, for which he promised to make a crusade. Enea-Silvio adorned this solemn vow (or promise) with all the colors of his magnificent rhetoric. Nicholas V donated a tenth of the church income for a laudable purpose. But when this papal bull appeared, the Eastern Roman Empire did not exist, since Constantinople had already been in the power of Turkish troops for three months.
Mongols. Timur and Bayezid
Even Sultan Bayazid began the siege of Constantinople (1401), but did not have time to take possession of the city thanks to an unexpected sabotage, fortunately for the Christians; he was attacked by the strongest enemy - the Mongol Timur, who, having become the supreme khan of the Mongol tribes (about 1370), sent his wild hordes first to the East, conquered Persia, invaded India, where he took possession of the country to Delhi (1398), and then turned west. For a short time, the all-destroying current took a different direction. Timur defeated the Egyptian sultan at Aleppo, then at Damascus, and in 1401 took Baghdad. Pyramids erected from the skulls of the slain served as monuments to these victories. Bayazid, before whom so many rulers had already bowed, from the Chinese wall to the Mediterranean Sea and to the Egyptian border, arrogantly received the ambassadors of the formidable leader, who demanded obedience, but was forced to move troops to meet him. Terrible leaders converged at Ancyra in Galatia. There was a battle in which up to a million warriors participated. The Ottomans could not resist wild enemies, and in July 1402 Bayezid was taken prisoner. The victor spared his life; his captivity was shared by the Munich squire Hans Schiltberger, who has already been mentioned above. This Hans later accompanied the lame Timur (“Timurleng”, whom he ingenuously changed into “Temerlane”), in many of his campaigns and witnessed fierce battles. Bayazid soon died in captivity at Timur, and in 1405 Timur died during a campaign against China, whose image, under the name of Tamerlane, was deeply imprinted in the memory of Western peoples, although this time the Mongol invasion touched only the outskirts of Europe and even delayed the inevitable fate destined for Eastern Roman Empire.
The successes of the Turks
Indeed, the battle of Ancyra and its aftermath provided Western Christianity with a long rest, making it possible to prepare for an active defense. The dominance of the Mongols over the areas turned into Turkish was, of course, only temporary, but a bloody feud reigned between the sons of Bayezid, and Mehmed I, who remained victorious, could settle in Adrianople only in 1413.
Tomb (above) and sarcophagus (below) of Sultan Mehmed I (1413-1421) in Brousse.
Reconstruction of Parviye.
Already under his son Myrad II (1421-1451), the Turks resumed their raids, and Constantinople was besieged by the worshipers of Islam for the fourth time. The city was miraculously saved again: one assault was repulsed, and the unpleasant news received by the Sultan forced him to lift the siege. But in reality, the empire was now limited only to Constantinople with its district and some parts on the Black Sea and in the Peloponnese. Only a new crusade from the West and a pan-European intervention could improve the matter. Therefore, to eliminate the main obstacle to this - the differences between the Eastern and Western churches - the son of Manuel II John VIII (1425 - 1448) went to Italy.
Medal of John VIII Palaiologos (1425 - 1448), the penultimate Byzantine emperor. The work of Pisanello. Paris. Numismatic office.
Discord reigned in the Western church at this time, so John had to join some party. He decided to take the side of Pope Eugene and Ferrara, and here, or rather in Florence, where the Anti-Council was soon transferred, on July 6, 1439, a great event was solemnly announced - the reunification of the churches. But the people and the clergy in Constantinople did not even want to hear about this reunification, which was bought at the price of concessions contrary to Orthodoxy. The persons who had drawn up the formula for reunification in Florence did not dare to show themselves in Constantinople. At the same time, Christianity and the pope himself were somewhat encouraged by the resistance that Murad met during the raids on the border regions. Elizabeth, the widow of King Albrecht, the daughter of Emperor Sigismund, a few months after the death of her husband gave birth to a son, Ladislav, who was recognized as king by the majority of the Hungarian people and magnates. Among the guardians of the infant king, the most remarkable person was Janos Hunyadi, who put an end to the devastation of individual Turkish robber gangs that penetrated the country, and even in two brilliant campaigns inflicted a severe defeat on the larger army put up by the Sultan (1422).
Janos Hunyadi. Engraving from the "Chronicle of the Hungarians" by Turoczi. 1488
Yielding to the insistence of the papal ambassadors, the Polish king Vladislav also joined him, and they won a rather important victory over the Turks in the night battle of Nis (1443).
Seal of Vladislav III Jagielon.
Its consequence was a peace concluded in Chegedin for 10 years with the condition for both sides not to cross the Danube for military purposes. Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini, who was present at the meetings in his capacity as papal plenipotentiary, was opposed to this treaty, which may indeed have been a mistake. But it was extremely unforgivable for Christians to break it soon, and the main blame fell on the same papal legate, Cardinal Giuliano, and on that immoral theory, according to which the pope or the church considered itself entitled not to recognize treaties concluded “to the detriment of the church”, and released their worldly subjects from an oath promise to fulfill them. There is no doubt that no matter how high-sounding words this theory is covered up, its essence is still that it is possible not to keep a word in relation to the infidels. The cardinal managed to convince the Polish king, who was also recognized in Hungary by one party and enjoyed great authority at that time. He also bowed down the assembly of magnates, but it proved more difficult for him to form that great Christian union, in which hopes were placed. Vladislav crossed the Danube with an army of only 15 thousand people and managed to get to Varna due to the fact that the Bulgarian side declared itself for him. It was assumed that the Sultan was busy far away, in Asia, and he was already nearby with his army. The Genoese, taking a dukat per person for Judas, transported the Turks in the amount of 40 thousand people on their ships through the Bosphorus, after which they headed north. The collision took place at Varna on November 10, 1444. Before the battle, a letter with a truce agreement was carried through the ranks of the Ottomans at the end of a spear, now violated. Christians were led into battle by Janos Hunyadi and the Polish and Hungarian king Vladislav, despite his illness, a young, handsome 20-year-old knight. The Ottomans were commanded by their sultan. Victory was already on the side of the Christians, the Poles and Hungarians fought their way forward with invincible courage and managed to drive the Turkish cavalry from the field, some Janissaries still held out, but they also began to weaken. The Christian troops suddenly noticed that King Vladislav was gone, the feathers on his helmet flashed ahead as a guiding sign for his own. The young king really entered the enemy ranks, and at the moment when the Janissaries lined up, he fell off his horse and was immediately killed by the Turks, who cut off his head, stuck it on a spear and carried it in front of their troops. The coming night ended the battle. The retreat was much more disastrous for the Christians than the battle itself. Cardinal Giuliano also did not survive. There were rumors that his own people killed him, considering him the culprit of all disasters. The Ottomans did not complete their victory; Janos Hunyadi, elected regent or guardian of the state until the age of majority of the now recognized by all Ladislaus Postum, son of Albrecht, energetically set about preparing for a new war, entering into correspondence with the pope and the Venetian signoria. In 1448, he had an army of the same size as the one near Varna, or a little stronger, recruited from Hungarians and Vlachs. Only a few hunters arrived from the west. On the Kosovo field, the same one where the Hungarians and Serbs were defeated 59 years ago, now both armies met. The matter ended, as at Varna, with the difference that this time treason crept into the Christian camp: the Wallachian troops handed over to the Turks the next day, on the third the Christians suffered a final defeat. During the retreat, Janos Hunyadi had the misfortune to fall into the hands of his enemy, the Serbian despot. Released at the cost of the most difficult conditions and a huge ransom, he began to seek real help from the West, but his efforts were, as before, in vain. From the money collected for the crusades, and the treasures received by the papal treasury from a new source since the time of Boniface VIII - jubilee festivities (the terms for which everything was reduced, first from 100 years to 50, then to 33 years, then to 25 years), the advanced strongholds of Christianity against the Turks received very little. On the other hand, Janos did not manage to conclude any lasting peace with the enemy, and under such circumstances a fatal year came.
Mehmed II
In 1451, Murad, who enjoyed the fame of a moderate and just ruler, was succeeded by his son Mehmed II, a young man of 21 years old, ambitious, full of warlike plans. Having strengthened his throne according to Eastern custom by executing relatives who seemed dangerous to him, he considered the time had come for the Ottomans to return to their natural capital.
Coin of Sultan Mehmed II (1451 - 1481).
Paris. Numismatic Cabinet
He almost did not hide his intentions: in the same year when he reached power, he began to build a fortress on the European shore of the Bosphorus, in its narrowest place, not far from the Constantinople Gate. Emperor Constantine XI, who at that time wore a crown that had lost almost all significance, tried in vain to prevent these works; the sultan did not even accept the embassies sent on this occasion. Hostile actions soon opened up, to which the construction of this fortress gave rise. Palaiologos, conscious of their hostility, began courageously to prepare for defense. He again turned to the Western powers for help, primarily to the pope. The expected help from the latter was limited to sending some cardinal Isidore, who arrived in November 1452 in the perishing city and began to preach in favor of the reunification of the churches. The emperor bowed to the proposed formulas of confession, but this only irritated the entire Orthodox population, aroused all the monks, the people, the mob, and before a couple of galleys equipped by the pope at his personal expense or delivered to him by other sovereigns had time to appear in eastern waters, the fate of the city already decided.
Mehmed gave the besieged time to somehow prepare for defense during the winter, but he himself took control of all the ways in which help could arrive in time for them. With the onset of the spring of 1453, he moved his hordes of 3-4 thousand people from Adrianople, and when this army encircled the city in an arc, from sea to sea, from land, the fleet approached its walls facing the sea.
Cartoon image of Turkish warriors. 15th century drawing
Nuremberg. German Museum.
The city put up a courageous, unexpected resistance for the Sultan. It was well protected from land by a double wall; the harbor of the Golden Horn, in which there was a small squadron of 16-20 ships, was closed by a chain from the sea. There were moments when not only pious and sincerely pious people, but also the leaders themselves and everyone who understood military affairs hoped that this time the pagans would be forced to retreat. The emperor was a resolute man and selflessly devoted himself to the desperate cause of protection. The city was provided with food for a long time; among the leaders was one Genoese, gifted with remarkable military abilities, one Giovanni Giustiniani. But the garrison was too small to defend such a vast city. It consisted of at most 10 thousand people, among whom were up to 3 thousand foreigners, for the most part Genoese and Venetians, while the Ottomans, with all the inept conduct of the siege, as well as in the assault on fortified cities, had an advantage in people to fight. They had siege weapons, several small cannons, and one huge mortar that fired blackstone cannonballs weighing up to a thousand pounds. It did little damage and was torn apart by one of the seven shots fired daily. Things took a turn for the worse for the Christians when the Turks succeeded, thanks to the enormous manpower they could muster, to drag some of their ships on land, about 7 kilometers further, with the help of planks, behind the chain that protected the entrance to the harbor. At this time, either due to treason, or due to chance, the besieged did not have time to set fire to these vessels, although this plan was already close to execution. Gradually advancing, the Ottomans could already start the assault. But before it began, Mehmed invited the emperor to retire, promising to spare the population. Constantine dismissed this surrender as impossible. Such heroism proves that the last spark of the ancient Roman spirit was not yet extinguished then, and, as they say, the Sultan himself could not help being amazed and declared that he would never have believed that these unfaithful dogs, giaurs, could possess such heroism and courage, - would not have believed it even if 37,000 prophets had told him about it! On May 27, the attack was announced to the Turkish troops on the 29th. On May 28, it was possible to see from the walls all the preparations for the assault, to hear the enthusiastic exclamations that greeted the speech of the Sultan.
Armament of Turkish soldiers of the XV-XVI centuries.
On the left are helmets richly decorated with etching, gilding and covered with inscriptions - sayings from the Koran; the upper helmet is a type of shishak, in the 16th century. widespread throughout Europe. On the right is a Turkish heavily armed warrior, a drawing on the armor stored in the Bern Historical Museum.
The emperor also summoned his leaders and communed with them the holy mysteries in St. Sophia Cathedral. The attack began before full dawn. For two hours an indecisive battle was fought at the most dangerous point, the gate of St. Roman in the middle of the western wall. During the third attack of the Turks, who were 50 times more, the Christians began to weaken, and when the wounded Giustiniani was forced to leave his post, the Janissaries broke into the city. But the emperor did not stop fighting and soon fell, illuminating both himself and the last hours of his once great state with glory. The corpse of Konstantin was found only the next day. The city was taken before noon, the population sought salvation in temples or on ships in the harbor. Everything that could be expected after many months of siege of the city by the barbarians, with their victory, of course, happened. The number of people killed in the streets was only about 2,000, a very moderate figure under the circumstances; perhaps such mercy was facilitated by the self-interest of the soldiers, to whom the Sultan provided all the booty and all the prisoners. The last resistance was offered from the side of the harbor, but at noon on May 29, 1453, the sultan himself had already entered the conquered city.
Bayezid II Mosque in Istanbul.
Built in 1498. Based on a photograph from the end of the 19th century.
Turkish dominance. Eastern Question
Thus the south-east of Europe was taken away from Christianity for many centuries, and the Eastern question entered a new phase. Just as once already in the 8th century, it now became for a long time the question of how far Islam would penetrate Europe, this time invading it from the southeast. It was, at any rate, not as dangerous as before, because European life had developed greatly during the seven centuries that had elapsed since the days of Tours and Jerez de la Frontera, and western states could console themselves with the thought that their common coalition would constitute a sufficient rebuff to the enemy. But such a coalition did not work out: European life was corroded by strife, the desire for isolation was expressed by all nations more strongly than ever. The consciousness of European solidarity, which previously coincided with the feeling of Christian or ecclesiastical community, has greatly weakened. Both powers of power, the papacy and the empire, limited themselves in their actions against the new enemy to weak attempts and empty demonstrations. At the Reichstag in Regensburg (1453), Enea-Silvio, in his capacity as imperial plenipotentiary, made a long and well-thought-out speech on the necessity and ease of a new general crusade. There was no shortage of influential people's orators who spoke about the same in appeals to the people. But both the papacy and the imperial power suffered from exhaustion, a kind of senile infirmity, and in view of the fragmentation Christendom Islam, firmly united and closed, had on its side a tangible, if not moral, then significant material advantage, which ensured its strengthening in the southeast of Europe. Civil strife and palace coups could at times weaken Ottoman power, but, in general, the Turkish people were inspired by one feeling and one desire. Religion—a religion of a more ritual character, at any rate very little conducive to deep spiritual movements, but practiced with ardor and the stern fulfillment of its requirements—served as a strong bond for this people, united already by an already pervasive military despotism and a simple organization conditioned by needs. war. The inability to hold back by the plow what was conquered by the sword, which subsequently constituted the weakness of these victorious barbarians, was in the early days the source of their strength. This people, not related to the land that crowds of unarmed slaves cultivated for them, possessed a mobile, always ready for battle, standing army, which gave them a huge advantage over the still extremely unsatisfactory state of the military unit in the West.
Reflection attempts. Defense of Rhodes
During the following decades, the Turks were constantly moving forward, although the Christians won some glorious victories at times. In 1459 Serbia became an Ottoman province, and in 1462 Wallachia was conquered. After varying military happiness, the kingdom of Bosnia with neighboring regions of Herzegovina and Montenegro (1464) also fell under Turkish rule, thanks to which the rule of the Turks extended to the Adriatic. In Albania alone, George Kastrioti, nicknamed Skanderbeg or Iskender Bey, still held his ancestral principality. In former times, when his father was forced to submit to the Turks, George was given over to Porte as an amanat, along with his two brothers, and brought up in Mohammedanism. He harbored a burning hatred for the victors until the moment when he managed to break his slave chain. He fled with 300 of his countrymen, appeared in his homeland in 1444 and began to fight so successfully with the Turks at the head of his warlike highlanders, sometimes receiving financial assistance from the church fund for the benefit of the crusaders, that Mehmed himself in 1461 offered him peace and friendship and concluded a peace treaty with George, recognizing him as an independent ruler of Albania. But at this time, the last remnants of the former Roman state perished: the despotism in the Peloponnese and the Duchy of Athens, the last monument of Frankish rule. The Turkish fleet was also active: in 1462, Lesbos, the most important of the Aegean islands, became the prey of the Ottomans. The situation hardly changed when Enea Silvio, a man of broad ideas, reached the goal of his ambitious dreams and was elected pope under the name of Pius II.
Medal of Pope Pius II.
Artwork by Andrei Gvazzalotti. Paris. Numismatic office.
His tempestuous desire for war with the enemies of the cross met with only an evasive response. The Council of Mantua, at which a new crusade was to be proclaimed, gave the pope occasion to make long speeches, more for his own than for anyone else's pleasure, but ended with words and simple promises, of which there was little hope of fulfillment, because they were about financial assistance. To this empty rhetoric belongs the Pope's message to the Sultan of Turkey: the eloquent pope-orator is trying to convert a mighty militant ruler to Christianity, pointing out to him how the smallness of baptismal water (aquae pauxillum) will glorify him. Pius died in Ancona in 1464 during military preparations undertaken by him together with the Venetians. His successor, Paul II, also achieved a coalition of only Italian sovereigns and governments, as the most oppressed by the Ottomans. Venice had to wage war alone for her Peloponnesian and Levantine possessions. This war continued with varying success until 1479, when the sultan and the signoria made peace in Constantinople. By this peace, Turkey received the possessions of the republic in the Sea and on the islands, with the exception of only the island of Euboea (Negropont) and Scutari in the Adriatic Sea. The Sultan's ambassador arrived in Venice and handed the Doge Giovanni Mocenigo, among other gifts, a precious belt that had a peculiar symbolic meaning: if the Sultan demanded it back, the Doge had to return it immediately and know that from that moment on all treaties were considered destroyed, lost every power. The republic, however, managed to defend some of its commercial benefits and the right to have its own judge (beilo) for people of their nationality in Istanbul - that was how Constantinople was now called.
Hungary and Czech Republic
During this time, Mehmed expanded his possessions on the Asian side. The Empire of Trebizond was conquered in 1461; the Asia Minor region of Karaman also fell to the Ottomans after a fierce battle with the Turkmens (1473); all of Asia Minor was now in their hands. Even under Mehmed, the great Asian-European state stretched already from the headwaters of the Tigris to the Sava. Only one place, to console Christianity, has not yet been overcome by great forces: the island of Rhodes, which came into the possession of the Order of St. John in 1309, gloriously withstood the siege in 1480. The Turks fired 3.5 thousand stone cannonballs against it and, finally, on July 28 decided to attack.
Pierre d'Aubusson inspires the defenders of Rhodes before the Turkish assault.
Miniature from the manuscript of Guillaume Gaursin (1430-1501), Vice-Chancellor of the Order of the Hospitallers in Rhodes. Paris. National Library.
They already almost won a victory, Turkish banners were already fluttering on some of the destroyed walls, but after two hours of hand-to-hand combat, the defenders of Rhodes again drove the enemy back. Mehmed died the following year (1481). After his death, "res orientales", as the diplomats of that time called the Eastern question, entered a new phase, quite favorable for the Christian powers due to the civil strife that arose between the sons of Mehmed, Bayezid II and Cem.
Fight between the warriors of Bayezid II and Jem.
From a woodcut from Caorsini Obsidionis Rhodiae Vrbis Descriptio, published in Ulm in 1496.
Cem, defeated by his brother, fell under the protection of the Europeans, going primarily to Rhodes. In 1489, interested in his personality all the powers that were related to the Ottoman Empire, he even visited Rome and stayed in the Vatican with Pope Innocent VIII. This situation greatly disturbed Sultan Bayazid, and he with innocence sent a message to the pope (1494), in which he invited him to free Jem from the hardships of this world as soon as possible and resettle his soul to a better world. The pope then was Alexander VI, who could be offered similar things and who knew how and what to do. A significant amount was offered for the service - 300 thousand ducats "for the purchase of some estate by the sons of the pope", and, in addition, all sorts of good things. The Ottoman prince turned into a real commodity, into a commodity: Alexander gave him for 20 thousand ducats to the French king Charles VIII (1495). According to rumors, the pope sold the goods, having previously spoiled it: at least, Jem soon died in Naples, having entered the possession of the French king. In fact, the fear of his brother’s machinations somehow crippled Bayezid’s energy, and the danger that threatened Europe from the Turks somewhat weakened during the first 14 years of his reign, and the policy of European states, meanwhile, got used to reckoning with Ottoman power on European territory as with a fait accompli.
King Jiri
After Italy, and to the same extent as her, the danger threatened Hungary, which in these circumstances had to rely solely on its own forces. From 1445, the young Ladislav (Laszlo), the grandson of King Sigismund, became the Hungarian king, but he was in the hands of the German king Frederick III, who did not betray him. Only in 1453, Janos Hunyadi, the guardian of the state, managed to force the emperor to do this, and the young man began to rule the state.
In 1457, Janos died, and a few months later the 18-year-old king followed him, before he could marry the French princess who had been betrothed to him. There was no shortage of pretenders to the French throne, even two, because with the death of Ladislav (Laszlo), the Czech crown also remained free. The party that can be called national won the upper hand, and the son of Janos Matthias, nicknamed Corvinus, was proclaimed king of Hungary (1458). In the Czech Republic, the choice fell on the former viceroy Jiri Podebrad, so that in both significant countries people from ordinary nobles reached the highest rank and power. The 15-year-old Hungarian king, an active young man, gifted with a state mind, coped with great difficulties: internal intrigues, struggles with the emperor and the Turks; but when at last, in 1464, after reconciliation with the Emperor Frederick, he attained the sacred crown, and was crowned with it according to the custom at Szehesfehérvár, he turned his ambitions against his father-in-law, King Jiri Podebrad of Bohemia. The merging of Hungary and the Czech Republic under one leadership could be carried out in view of the danger posed by the Turks. This plan failed, but on the contrary, after the death of Jiri in 1471, Matthias was involved in a clash with Poland, because the Czechs chose a Polish prince as king, and the dissatisfied party in Hungary chose another, also Polish, prince for themselves, opposing him to Matthias. All this led to a war with Poland, and Matthias spent the entire time of his reign, until his death in 1490, either fighting or concluding peace treaties with Poland, the Czech Republic, the Ottomans, the emperor, leaving no legally capable heirs. His crown, for which there were many contenders, went to the Bohemian king Vladislav, and, in view of the danger posed by the Turks, the union of the Czech Republic and Hungary under one rule was a blessing.
Position in the Czech Republic
As for the Czech Republic, the main moment of its fate in this era was the religious question. As already mentioned, the Taborites were defeated (1434), but the Utrakvist party [Utrakvist - taking communion under both types (bread and wine).] firmly held on to their rights and the Basel compacts, which they had to protect from princely and papal encroachments and digs. After the death of Sigismund in 1437, his son-in-law Albrecht of Austria was elected by the Catholic party, and the 13-year-old Polish prince was elected by the Hussites. When Albrecht died, an announcement took place in favor of his son Ladislaus (Postum), who was born after the death of his father, Emperor Frederick III volunteered to be the guardian. The government was a kind of compromise between the parties: the country was ruled by two governors, one from the Calixtine, the other from the Catholic party. The most remarkable of them was the nobleman who occupied the governorship from 1444, belonging to the Calixtines, the above-named Jiri Podebrad. He went further along the path blazed by the Compactates, showing reasonable political restraint, and tried to reunite the nation by holding back the extreme elements. Since 1450, he alone remained the governor.
Headpiece from a Czech manuscript psalter of the 15th century.
The reign of King Jiri. Friction with the Papacy
Meanwhile, reaction triumphed in the church. Pope Nicholas V (1447-1455) ruled in the same spirit, and he, like his entire party, was hindered by the ecclesiastical isolation of the Czech Republic. The young king Ladislaus, who began to rule in the fateful year 1453, was also ardently disposed in favor of Catholicism. When he died after a short reign, without having time to delve into the affairs of the Czech Republic, the former governor Jiří Podebrad was elected king. He ruled the country in the spirit that he had previously learned and served for its good. At his coronation, he swore allegiance to the church and the pope, but made a condition to respect the compacts. To equalize everyone before the government was a glorious attempt: there were times when this should have become a state task in Europe. The great "upstart" met at first with the resistance of the curia, to which her former arrogance returned. It was embodied in the crowned poet, eloquent and rather light-hearted jurist-theologian and careerist Enea Silvio, who reached the papacy in 1458. This Pius II declared the compactates invalid. His successor, Paul II, sentenced Jiri to deposition and even came up with the idea of a crusade against him. The bold, ambitious plan of Jiri to achieve the Roman crown - a plan not insane with the insignificance of Frederick III and the venality of the German princes - was not successful, but in the Czech Republic Jiri retained his power untouchable until his death (1471). Even thanks to the streamlining of his finances and the well-organized military forces, he enjoyed throughout his reign the role of arbitrator in the endless disputes between German cities and princes among themselves.
King Vladislav
The compactati remained in force under the newly elected - but not approved by the pope king - Polish prince Vladislav II, and even the remnants of the Taborites, who separated from the church under the name of “Bohemian brothers” and sometimes aroused new persecutions against themselves because of their increased numbers, lived quietly under his rule: in 1504 he himself joined their religion. In 1485, at the Diet in Kutna Hora, he established a religious peace, according to which both Calixtines and Catholics retained their property rights. The neighboring lands of the Czech Republic: Silesia, Moravia and Lusatia, which were taken over by the Hungarian king Matthias, were again annexed to the Czech Republic after his death. Being king of Hungary and Bohemia, Vladislav died in 1516.
Lithuania and Russia. Gedimin and Olgerd
From the previous essay it can be seen with what efforts the Moscow princes succeeded in the XIV century. to rally almost all of northeastern Russia around the new center - Moscow, to such an extent that even an open struggle against the Tatar Horde became possible. But it is also clear that not all of northeastern Russia during the XIV century. became part of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and that, while preparing for a decisive struggle against the Tatars, at the same time it had to wage a constant struggle with the neighboring Russian principalities - Tver, Ryazan and Smolensk, defending their independence. In addition, it so happened that on the northwestern border of Russia at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries. in the neighboring Principality of Lithuania, a number of warlike and talented princes appeared, who were able to excellently take advantage of the Tatar yoke weighing on Russia and began to gradually seize one region after another, taking advantage of the discord of the Russian princes, then the oversight of the Tatar khans, who did not attach much importance to the loss of one or another a small region or city, from the sphere of their influence passing into the sphere of influence of the Lithuanian princes, who, moreover, tried to get along with the Horde and skillfully avoided an open clash with it. Thus, under Prince Gediminas, Lithuania annexed the Vitebsk region without a struggle and subjugated Volhynia to its influence.
The ruins of Trakai Castle, Gediminas' favorite residence.
Photograph from the end of the 19th century.
Under his son Olgerd (Algirdas) (1345-1377), the principalities of Kiev, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversk, separated from Moscow by the independent principalities of Tver and Ryazan and more gravitating towards the principality of Galicia, which at that time already belonged to Poland, went to Lithuania. By the middle of the XIV century. a small Lithuanian principality, in the XII century. occupying a wooded and swampy area in the upper reaches of the Neman and its tributaries, suddenly spread out in breadth and distance, on the one hand to the borders of the Novgorod land, the Tver and Smolensk principalities, on the other - to the banks of the Vorskla and the lower reaches of the Dnieper, including within its limits the best and most fertile regions of the ancient Russia.
Coat of arms of Lithuania in the 15th century. From a fresco in Krakow Cathedral.
Such rapid successes of the Lithuanian princes were largely due to the subtle policy of the Lithuanian princes in relation to the Russian regions, which almost voluntarily, without a stubborn struggle, submitted to them only because, due to the force of historical circumstances, they were stopped in their striving for natural centers. At the same time, the Lithuanian princes, remaining pagans, ruled the Russian regions extremely reasonably: they did not crowd out Orthodoxy, left local orders everywhere, did not touch local laws and customs. Under Olgerd, the number of Russian subjects in the Principality of Lithuania already exceeded the number of native Lithuanians, and this predominance of a more developed and more capable Russian tribe had a beneficial effect on the Lithuanians: their wild morals softened, Orthodoxy and citizenship made rapid progress, and the Russian language throughout the territory of the Principality of Lithuania became state. Olgerd himself zealously took care of maintaining Russian influence in Lithuania and provided patronage to his Russian subjects, recognizing in them the strength on which he could rely in the fight against Poland and the Teutonic Order. And despite the fact that Olgerd, as a cunning politician, either defended Smolensk in its struggle with Moscow, or helped the Tver princes against Moscow, he himself did not shy away from Russian influence even in his family: both of his wives were from Russian princesses, and many of his sons were baptized in Orthodox faith and married to Orthodox. Judging by the whole course of affairs, even then one could already expect that both tribes - Russian and Lithuanian, coexisting under the rule of smart and talented princes, would eventually merge into one powerful people. But historical destinies turned out differently: neighboring Poland intervened in the affairs of rapidly growing and strengthening Lithuania, and the recent, beneficial successes of Russian influence in Lithuania were soon put an end to by Catholicism, which had long been trying to include Lithuania in its sphere of influence, conducting missionary activities from Polish territory. and from the lands of the Livonian Order.
Jagiello. 1377-1434
The eldest son of Olgerd, Jagiello (1377-1434), with the help of various tricks and violence, dispersed all his brothers and killed his uncle Keistut, who had been a zealous assistant of Olgerd and a thunderstorm of the Teutonic knights all his life. At the time when he thus seized power over Lithuania into his own hands, he had the opportunity to immediately achieve a high and brilliant position. The neighboring Kingdom of Poland, weakened by internal strife and turmoil, was inherited at that time by the daughter of the Hungarian king Lajos Jadwiga. Many suitors began to woo Jadwiga, who really wanted to get the Polish crown from her hands. But the Polish lords and the Catholic clergy, very strong in Poland, focused their attention on the Lithuanian pagan prince as the most suitable groom for Jadwiga. This preference for Jogaila over other seekers was due to the fact that Poland, significantly weakened by the struggle against the Germans, was beneficial to connect with powerful Lithuania. The Polish clergy and Polish nobles looked with envy at the vast and fruitful lands of Volyn, Podolia and Ukraine, which were so easy to seize, introducing a new faith, new orders and customs into the region. Jagiello was solemnly baptized in Krakow, and then on February 18, 1386, he married Jadwiga, from whose hands he received the Polish crown. Since then, Lithuania has for a long time connected its fate with the fate of Poland, and its rapprochement with Russia became possible only after three and a half centuries after a stubborn and cruel struggle.
Merger of Lithuania and Poland
To what extent the closeness and connection of the Russian and Lithuanian elements in the Principality of Lithuania was evident from the fact that when, after the coronation of Jogaila with the Polish crown, the Poles began to run the show in Lithuania, and the Catholic clergy forcibly converted the population to Catholicism, without separating the pagans from the Orthodox, all the population of the Principality of Lithuania quickly turned to open rebellion. The uprising also found a leader - his cousin Vitovt, the son of Keistut, skillful and dangerous for Jogaila. A struggle ensued between Vytautas and Jogaila, and it lasted so long and was fought so stubbornly that Jagiello, bored with strife, agreed to accept Vitautas as co-rulers: he ceded Lithuania to him for life with the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania.
Vitovt. 1392-1415
Vitovt (1392-1415) during his reign showed himself worthy of his uncle Olgerd and grandfather Gediminas. Having secured family ties with the Moscow prince Vasily Dmitrievich, who was married to the daughter of Vitovt, he dealt a terrible blow to the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Grunwald , where the entire knightly army was destroyed and the Grand Master of the Order himself was killed. Then the military power and importance of Vitovt in relation to neighboring countries increased to such an extent that, without fighting with Russia, he could annex Smolensk (1395) to his possessions, the princes of which, weakened by strife, did not want to submit to Moscow and could not resist Vitovt.
Vitovt near Smolensk.
But the Polish nobles and clergy managed to entangle this smart and powerful prince to such an extent that he decided to deviate from the traditions of his predecessors and, according to the Treaty of Horodel (1413), gave the final preponderance to Catholicism and the Polish people over Orthodoxy and the Russian people in the regions of the Principality of Lithuania. According to this ill-fated treaty, Polish orders and customs were introduced into the administration of the Principality of Lithuania, and that part of the nobility that converted to Catholicism was given all the rights and advantages of the Polish gentry. Such a clear injustice prompted many well-born Lithuanian nobles and princes (even Vitovt's relatives) to be evicted from Lithuania to Russia, who did not want to change Orthodoxy and found themselves very cordially received by the great Moscow princes.
Establishment of the Kyiv Metropolis
In the last years of his life, Vitovt realized his mistake and tried his best to correct it. On the one hand, he planned to protect his Russian subjects from the violence of the Catholic clergy, and on the other hand, to put them in an independent position in relation to Moscow. To this end, he decided to separate the Lithuanian-Russian regions in church terms from the Moscow metropolis and give them their own, special church head. He interceded about this with the Patriarch of Constantinople, on whom the entire Russian Orthodox Church then depended. But the patriarch did not agree to appoint a special metropolitan for the Western Russian regions. Then Vitovt, enraged by the refusal, gathered the Western Russian bishops to a council and ordered them to elect and appoint the learned Bulgarian Gregory Tsamvlak (1415) as metropolitan in Kyiv. Shortly after this, Vitovt died, mourned by no one, because with his wrong and ambivalent policy he managed to alienate both Russian and Lithuanian subjects from himself. After the death of Vitovt, Lithuania passed into the power of Jogaila and lost its independent political significance, so that over the next three and a half centuries it appeared in history in close connection with Poland, although at times it was ruled by individual princes.
Vasily I and Vasily II the Dark
This rather lengthy digression was necessary when reviewing Russian history in order to give an idea of the true meaning of that long and difficult internal political reworking that the scattered and weak principalities of northeastern Russia had to undergo before they turned into a strong and united Moscow principality, which, on the one hand, could already compete with the Horde and expect from it not invasions, but raids and devastation; and on the other hand, it was preparing to attract to itself all the other Russian lands that had not yet been captured by Lithuania in order to gather them into a powerful Muscovite state. But before all the Russian principalities and lands were brought together, under the rule of the Moscow princes, a lot of time passed, it took a lot of internal struggle and effort ... Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy was succeeded by his son Vasily I Dmitrievich (1389-1425), a prince who during the life of his father was him a co-ruler, and therefore experienced in matters of internal government and in external relations with neighboring rulers.
Seals (above) of Vasily I Dmitrievich (1389-1425) and
(bottom) Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark (1425-1462).
He knew how to get along with the Horde, sometimes paying tribute to her, sometimes contenting the khans with small gifts; and from his father-in-law, Vitovt of Lithuania, he managed to save the Novgorod and Pskov regions threatened by him. But when his son Vasily II Vasilyevich the Dark (1425-1462) ascended the throne at the age of 10, his uncle Yury took advantage of his infancy with his rebellious sons, Vasily Kosy and Dmitry Shemyaka, and began to challenge his nephew's right to grand ducal dignity.
Last civil strife
A cruel, stubborn, full of tragic and bloody episodes began, reminiscent of the struggle between the House of Lancaster and York, the struggle. It lasted 20 years, but was the last struggle of the tribal beginning with the hereditary one and showed quite clearly that Muscovite Russia of the 15th century. no longer looked like specific Russia 12th and 13th centuries The general need for inner silence, peace and order, which was not recognized by everyone in Germany at that time, was already so strong in Muscovite Russia in the middle of the 15th century that all estates - the boyars, the clergy and the people - turned out to be on the side of the lawful, dynastic power and defended the rights of Vasily II against the unjust claims of his relatives. Not only in the Principality of Moscow, but also in the Principality of Tver, which was independent of it, the importance of Moscow as an all-Russian connecting center was already so clearly recognized that the Tver prince himself offered his troops to help the Moscow prince against his cousins. Thanks to all these conditions, Vasily II victoriously withstood a long internecine struggle and, having established himself on the throne, spent the last twelve years of his reign calmly, caring exclusively about the internal structure of the Moscow principality.
Florence Cathedral. Rejection of the Union
An important merit of Basil II was the unshakable firmness with which he met the intrigues of the papacy, which just at that time resumed its attempts to reunite the eastern and western churches. The Greek Isidore, who had recently been appointed metropolitan of Moscow by the Patriarch of Constantinople, decided to go to Italy to participate in the council convened in Florence (1439) with the aim of reuniting the churches. Grand Duke Vasily resisted this trip of Isidor for a long time and finally said to him as parting words: “Look, bring us ancient piety, as we received it from Vladimir; but don’t bring something new, someone else’s, we won’t accept it.” Isidore feignedly promised to stand for Orthodoxy, but at the council he unquestioningly signed a letter on the union of the Russian church with the Western church and even recognized the primacy of the pope. When, upon his return to Moscow, he dared to commemorate the pope at the liturgy instead of the Eastern patriarchs, and after the liturgy he decided to read to the people a letter about the alleged reunification of the churches, the Grand Duke ordered that he be put under guard and, as an apostate, be brought to church court. Fortunately for Isidore, he managed to escape from prison during the trial and avoid the punishment intended for him. After the overthrow of Isidore, the Ryazan Bishop Jonah was elected Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia and appointed by the Council of Russian Bishops. From that time (1447), the Moscow metropolitans were already constantly “delivered” in Russia, and did not go to Constantinople for this, which five years later was already in the power of the Turks, and the Patriarch of Constantinople himself found himself in a very humiliated and dependent position on the Sultan . It was from 1447 that the beginning of the long and stubborn separation of the Russian East and the European West began. This separation, due to the desire to preserve in complete purity their faith as the most precious beginning of the Russian nationality, contributed to the alienation of Russia from the brilliant and rapid progress along which Europe moved from the end of the 15th century, and undoubtedly slowed down the course of its enlightenment and scientific education. On the other hand, this separation from the West made it possible for Russia to grow stronger in its independent growth and develop to the highest degree those national features that, two or three centuries later, gave it the opportunity to enter the field of European history as an independent power independent of anyone.
Ivan III. 1462-1505
After the death of Vasily II the Dark, his son Ivan III Vasilyevich (1462-1505), a man of vast and subtle mind and iron will, one of the most remarkable Russian sovereigns, ascended the throne of the Moscow Grand Dukes. At the beginning of his reign, he only completed what his smart, far-sighted and active ancestors had so gradually and carefully prepared, but then he turned onto a new political path, following which the strong Principality of Moscow, under the immediate successors of Ivan III, turned into a powerful Muscovite state.
Subjugation of Novgorod
First of all, Ivan III intervened in the internal affairs of Novgorod, which, ever since the time of Simeon the Proud, had at times forced the princes of Moscow to intervene militarily in its extremely confused, restless, and unstable government.
Ivan III. Engraving from a 1575 book by the French geographer Teve, published in Paris.
And indeed, taking advantage of its convenient position on the edge of the Russian land, rich and populous Novgorod, which gained huge benefits from trade relations with the West and with all Lithuania and Russia, managed until the 15th century. to defend its independence and independence from all neighboring principalities, preserved the ancient, partly obsolete forms of the veche system, extended its possessions from the banks of the Volkhov to the shores of the White Sea on the one hand, and to Perm, Vyatka and the Urals - on the other.
These vast possessions were inhabited by rich and strong Novgorod colonies, which were all drawn to their metropolis, delivering to it abundant sources of income from their trades and tributes collected from foreigners, sending their squads to replenish the Novgorod militia in case of danger threatening Novgorod. The Hanseatic trading offices have long been engaged in a lively and extensive bargaining with Novgorod, and the Novgorodians themselves sent their ships with goods overseas by the ancient "Varangian way", neglecting the obstacles that the Swedes, Finns or Teutonic knights tried to put on this path. Possessing enormous wealth, closely connected by friendship with “his younger brother, Pskov”, and either successfully fighting with neighbors or skillfully maneuvering between them through all sorts of political tricks and compromises, Novgorod could boldly create a proverb: “Who is against God and Veliky Novgorod!” - and it was not for nothing that its initial people wrote in letters and spoke in embassies on behalf of the “Lord of Veliky Novgorod”.
While Moscow was rising, getting stronger and gradually developing its power, while it was getting out from under the heavy oppression of the Horde and “gathering” the Russian land gradually, it was inconvenient for her to intervene too persistently in Novgorod affairs, and she was content with gradually weakening Novgorod, then capturing a certain share of his lands, then charging heavy repayments from the Novgorodians, which they willingly paid, if only to get rid of the war with Moscow. But when Moscow was completely strengthened and, having provided for itself to some extent from the Horde, gathered around itself everything that it could collect from the lands of Eastern Russia, when, on the other hand, the powerful Lithuanian principality grew and merged with Catholic Poland, the situation of Novgorod completely changed. "Lord Veliky Novgorod" became a tempting target for two equal and formidable powers, and one of them was bound to lay claim to him. And indeed, in Novgorod, full of all sorts of troubles, confusions and strife, full of fierce enmity between the poor classes and the rich, already from the middle of the 15th century. at the head of the board, two constantly fighting parties are visible - Moscow and Lithuanian. The Lithuanian party, headed by the rich and influential boyars Boretsky and their mother, the famous Marfa Posadnitsa (i.e., the wife of the mayor), first managed to invite a prince from Lithuania, without the knowledge of the Moscow prince, then tried to raise the issue of abolishing ecclesiastical dependence of Novgorod on Moscow and exposed the benefits of subordinating the Novgorod archbishop Metropolitan of Kyiv, and finally even reached such courage that she directly raised the question of an embassy to the Grand Duke of Lithuania with a request to accept the Novgorodians into citizenship. Such self-will of the ruling party seemed unbearable not only to all reasonable Novgorodians, but also to the Pskovites. Many fled from Novgorod to Moscow to ask for the protection of the Grand Duke, and Ivan III immediately decided to act. He gathered a large Moscow army, which was joined by the allied Tver militia and even Pskovites, and moved it to Novgorod (in July 1471). With the army of the Grand Duke there was an excellent connoisseur of ancient Russian chronicles, the clerk Bearded, to convict the Novgorodians. Twice defeated by the governors of the Grand Duke, the Novgorodians were forced to submit.
The abolition of the Novgorod veche; the wand is the emblem of the veche.
Miniature from the Illuminated Chronicle. Laptev volume.
One of the Boretskys and some other boyars were executed. Novgorod was temporarily left with its internal structure, but it was bound by a strict agreement, under which it pledged not to submit to Lithuania and to supply archbishops exclusively in Moscow. Moreover, a heavy ransom had to be taken from Novgorod, and the richest Novgorod colonies on the Northern Dvina and the coasts of the White Sea were attached to the possessions of the Grand Duke of Moscow. But the matter did not end there. Ivan III, consistent in everything, did not like to do anything halfway: the fate of Novgorod, which had long been decided by him, ended 6 years later, when the Grand Duke of Moscow became attached to a petty, and perhaps even deliberate change in his title in relations between Novgorod and Moscow and demanded an explanation . When explanations, as was to be expected, were given unsatisfactory, a strong army appeared to confirm the requirements of the Grand Duke. Novgorodians did not even dare to think about resistance and in January 1478 submitted to Ivan "with all his will." Ivan demanded the destruction of the veche and the ancient Novgorod system. By his order, the veche bell was removed and taken to Moscow. The administration of Novgorod was entrusted to the Grand Duke's governor. He transferred the most important Novgorod boyars to serve in Moscow, and evicted the richest citizens to other cities of the Moscow principality. In their place, new settlers were sent to Novgorod. All the possessions of Novgorod became part of the Moscow principality. Novgorod lost all significance and became equal to all Moscow cities.
Merger of the rest of the appanages with Moscow
After Novgorod came the turn of the remaining few, still independent principalities. All of them, consistently and gradually, obeying the law of historical necessity, sacrificing the weak to the strong, merged with Moscow. These mergers were due to various conditions and agreements: some of the princes voluntarily (as, for example, the prince of Ryazan) provided their principality to Ivan, entrusting him with custody of their children. Others simply sold their principalities and entered the service of the Moscow prince. Still others ensured a quiet lifetime possession of the principality, bequeathing it to Ivan III after his death. In view of this, Ivan concluded such an agreement with his brothers that in the event of their childlessness, only he, the Grand Duke, could be the only heir to their destinies [He generally assigned the Grand Duke the right to inherit escheated destinies.]. Longer than all the other princes, Prince Michael of Tver retained his independence due to close family relations with Ivan III (he was married in his first marriage to the sister of Prince Tver). But with the rapid growth of Moscow's power, the independent existence of small and weak Tver was already unthinkable. It was necessary at all costs to lean to one side or the other: to join either Lithuania or Moscow, whose possessions the Tver Principality was covered from everywhere. But the cunning Ivan had already provided himself, just in case, with an agreement under which his brother-in-law undertook not to enter into "any relations with Lithuania without the knowledge and agreement of the Grand Duke."
Construction of Tver fortifications.
Miniature from the Illuminated Chronicle. Second Osterman volume.
At the first violation of this treaty, Ivan appeared with a strong army under the walls of Tver and, forcing Mikhail to flee to Lithuania, forever annexed the Tver principality to Moscow (1485).
Marriage with a Byzantine princess
This final rounding off of the possessions of the Grand Duke of Moscow was preceded by two important events that influenced the entire subsequent historical fate of the Russian land. The first of these was the second marriage of Ivan Vasilyevich to a Greek princess, Sophia Fominishna Paleolog, the niece of the last of the Byzantine emperors. This marriage was largely facilitated by the Pope, who even added his legate to the embassy that accompanied the princess to Moscow and instructed him to once again try to persuade the Moscow prince to unite the churches. But these hopes turned out to be in vain: the Metropolitan of Moscow did not even allow the legate to solemnly enter Moscow, and when he decided to enter into a debate about faith with the Russian clergy, the metropolitan put up against him a certain Nikita Popovich - a skilled scribe - who, with his arguments, forced the legate to abandon the dispute. Marriage with a Byzantine princess significantly influenced Ivan III. The princess turned out to be a proud, intelligent woman, and, moreover, possessed a very strong character. She even managed to subdue the will of her husband. Under her undoubted influence, Ivan began to move away from the nobles and princes, introduced, like a Byzantine court, strict rank and file among the Moscow courtiers, and surrounded himself with brilliance and splendor. By his command, the ancient coat of arms of the Moscow principality (St. George on horseback, slaying the dragon) was combined with the coat of arms of the Byzantine Empire (black double-headed eagle), in order to show everyone that the Grand Duke of Moscow, having entered into marriage with the last princess of the line of Byzantine emperors, became the heir their glory and the main pillar of Orthodoxy.
The final overthrow of the Tatar yoke
Under the direct influence of Sophia Fominishna, another important event took place - the final overthrow of the Tatar yoke. Although the Tatar Horde, since the terrible pogrom inflicted on it by Tamerlane, has not returned to its former formidable power; although the strife that began in it at the very beginning of the 15th century brought it to a very great exhaustion of strength and already under the father of Ivan III prompted it to disintegrate, however, the cautious prince of Moscow, busy with the careful collection of Russian land, preferred for the time being to maintain former relations with the Tatars, more just fearing interference on their part in the accomplishment of the great task. In these forms, the powerful Moscow prince did not stop paying a small annual tribute to the khans of the Golden Horde and did not even hesitate to observe the ancient custom of vassal worship before the khan's image (or basma), with which khan's envoys came to Moscow every year, who came for tribute. But, having finished collecting the Russian land, Ivan immediately turned to resolving the issue of relations with the Tatars, in the middle of the 15th century. evicted from the Horde to the Crimea and settled in Kazan. First of all, Ivan took the opportunity to intervene in the strife of the sons of the Kazan Khan Makhmutek, some of them offered his help and asylum in Moscow. The troops of the Moscow prince repeatedly approached the very walls of Kazan, imprisoned and replaced khans in it, and thus made them completely dependent on the Grand Duke of Moscow. Ivan III held a completely different policy towards the Crimean Horde, whose khans harbored an irreconcilable family hatred for the khans of the Golden Horde. Ivan III entered into close friendship and alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray and invited him to act against the Golden Horde at the same time. And only having provided himself with this alliance, only having subordinated Kazan to his influence, Ivan III decided to open actions against the Horde. In 1480, the ambassadors of Khan Akhmat were received in Moscow very unfriendly: the Grand Duke of Moscow refused the usual worship and payment of tribute to the Horde and released the ambassadors without gifts. When Akhmat with a large army approached the borders of Russia, he saw that all the crossings over the Oka were occupied by a strong Moscow army, ready for battle. Wishing to outwit the Moscow prince, Akhmat thought of invading Russia from the side of the Lithuanian possessions and by a quick detour threw his hordes to the banks of the Ugra River. But here, too, the princely regiments blocked his path, which, without engaging in battle with him, calmly waited for the onslaught of the Tatars.
« Standing" on the Ugra River in 1480.
Second Osterman volume.
Akhmat did not dare to attack first, and both troops stood opposite each other for a long time in complete inactivity. With the onset of winter, the Tatars retreated from the Ugra and went to their winter quarters. Shortly thereafter, Akhmat was killed in the Horde, and his sons entered into a long and stubborn struggle with the Crimea. This struggle ended with the fact that Mengli-Girey, with the help of the Moscow prince, inflicted a final defeat on the Golden Horde, ravaged Sarai, the capital of the Horde, and forced its last khan to flee to Poland.
Fight with Lithuania
When Ivan got rid of his primordial enemy and felt like the "sovereign of all Russia" (this is how he began to write his title in letters), he turned his eyes to the West, to those Russian regions that at that time no longer enjoyed their former privileged position under the rule of Lithuanian princes, but suffered from the unceremonious and violent propaganda of Catholicism. As a result, many petty border princes, descendants of the former appanage princes, willingly passed back from the Lithuanian prince to citizenship and service to the Moscow prince. These crossings were supposed to cause border disputes and finally led to Ivan's war with the Polish king Casimir. But this time the war was stopped at the very beginning (Casimir died), and the peace between Moscow and Lithuania was firmly fixed by the marriage of Ivan III's daughter Elena with the Lithuanian prince Alexander. But it did not help. The oppression of the Orthodox and the transition of Orthodox nobles from Lithuania to Russia resumed, and the war broke out again, and the Lithuanian prince suffered defeat after defeat from his father-in-law, despite the rather successful actions of Lithuania's ally, the master of the Livonian Order, Plettenberg. Forced to a truce, Alexander recognized Ivan's right to the possessions of the nobles who had passed to him and even the title of sovereign of "All Russia", especially unpleasant for the Lithuanian prince, who had many Russian subjects.
Concerns about the internal structure. Sudebnik
This constant, tireless and vigilant activity, this continuous internal and external struggle, this unswerving desire to fulfill a certain broad political plan did not interfere with Ivan III in his worries about the internal structure of his vast state. In view of this, trying to give one common political system to all the regions that became part of Muscovite Russia, he subordinated them to one general law, which smoothed out all local customs. It is in this sense that the Sudebnik of Ivan III, compiled on his behalf by the clerk Gusev, became a remarkable legal monument of the era. According to this Code of Laws, the right to judge in certain areas was granted to the grand ducal governors. The judge appointed by them could not judge alone, the prince's official and elected from the "best" people had to be present at the court. Judges received a certain court fee for deciding cases. When the court, due to lack of evidence, could not decide the case according to the law, the litigants were given the right to decide the case by judicial duel (the judgment of God). According to the harsh nature of the time, the death penalty was imposed for all criminal offenses and even for double theft (i.e., for recidivism). In general, for crimes against property, the judge imposed corporal punishment with a whip at the auction. Important and useful changes that significantly expanded the rights of women were also introduced by the Code of Laws into inheritance laws.
Relations with Western Europe
Ivan III was the first of the Moscow sovereigns to renew relations with Europe. This was prompted not only by his wife, who wanted to bring as much brilliance and splendor as possible into the until then simple life of the great Moscow princes, he was prompted by his own consciousness of the need to take advantage of the results of European life and progress, which were rumored to distant, forgotten Europe. Moscow Russia. In 1474, Semyon Tolbuzin was sent to Venice as an ambassador, and Lktony Fryazin, a foreigner living in Moscow, was assigned as an interpreter. He was instructed to invite various craftsmen and artists to Moscow: architects, foundry workers, gunsmiths, gunners, engineers, chasers, masons, carvers, miners and doctors. Among other foreigners invited to Moscow, a talented architect, the Bolognese Aristotle Fioravanti, also arrived. In 1479 he completed the Moscow Cathedral of the Assumption (modeled on the Vladimir Cathedral of the Assumption). After that, the Annunciation and Archangel Cathedrals were built; in 1491, the Faceted Chamber was completed by other foreign architects; a vast Terem palace was laid, and in 1492 the construction of the walls and towers of the Moscow Kremlin, begun by Antony Fryazin, was completed.
Construction of the Kremlin wall in Moscow.
Miniature from the Illuminated Chronicle.
Shumilovsky volume.
At the same time, the visiting Italians, like all the artists of the Renaissance, surprisingly versatile in their technical knowledge, were also engaged in other things: they cast cannons, minted coins, taught Russian people metalworking and arts. Following the example of Ivan, many of the nobles and the Moscow metropolitan became interested in building activities and began to decorate Moscow with buildings worthy of its new meaning - the capital of a large state. Simultaneously with attempts to establish such purely utilitarian relations between Muscovite Russia and Europe, attempts were renewed on the part of Europe to restore the former closer relations with Russia. Such attempts were, first of all, on the part of the German Emperor Frederick III. First, at his request, Moscow was visited by the knight Popel, whose stories, as one Russian historian rightly remarked, "discovered Russia for Germany." In 1489, the same knight appeared as the emperor's ambassador and started negotiations on the matchmaking of the emperor's son Maximilian for one of the grand duke's daughters; at the same time they tried to persuade Ivan to take joint action against Poland. Nothing came of this embassy, however, since Maximilian made his peace with Poland shortly thereafter.
The last years of Ivan's life
The last years of Ivan's long and fruitful reign were full of struggle against heresies that developed under the undoubted influence of Western ideas in Pskov and Novgorod and then passed to Moscow. At the same time, a fierce struggle took place in Ivan's family between his second wife, who defended her son's rights to the throne, and his daughter-in-law, who defended the rights of Ivan's grandson, who had already been appointed heir. Finally, Sophia prevailed, and Vasily was confirmed in the rights of inheritance, and in Ivan's will he was given power almost equal to the autocratic one: two-thirds of the most important and significant cities and lands were left to him, and the remaining third was divided among four other sons of the Grand Duke. At the same time, according to the same testament, the brothers of the Grand Duke were subordinate to him and were obliged by a special agreement in the event of the death of the Grand Duke not to seek a great reign over his sons. In other words: all their rights to a great reign, as the rights of tribal seniority, were finally abolished, and any attempt to seek these rights was to be punished as treason. The external expression of the strengthening and spreading of the power of the Grand Duke of Moscow should have been the fact that since the time of Ivan the right to mint a coin could only belong to one Grand Duke.
Basil III. 1505-1533
On October 27, 1505, Ivan III died, and his eldest son from his marriage to Sophia, Vasily III Ivanovich, ascended the grand prince's throne - an intelligent and firm sovereign, about whom we will have to talk much less than about his wonderful father, since the entire reign of Vasily III was nothing more than a continuation of the previous reign of Ivan. The main advantage of the son was that he was a persistent successor and executor of the plans and undertakings of his father.
Vasily III Ivanovich.
From an engraving from the book of 3. Herberstein, 1560, published in Vienna.
Accession of Pskov to Moscow. 1510
Indeed, his first act was the destruction of the last remnants of the veche government in Pskov (in 1510), which was also deprived of independence and self-government and compared with other cities of Muscovite Russia. At the same time, 300 of the best families were sent from Pskov to settle in Moscow, and in their place, according to the established custom, 300 merchant families from different cities of the Moscow principality were sent to Pskov. Then the rest of Vasily's reign was devoted to a stubborn struggle for the Russian regions that fell under the rule of Lithuania on the western border of Russia.
Weapons, harness and various travel utensils in Muscovite Russia in the 16th century.
From an engraving from the book of 3. Herberstein, 1560, published in Vienna.
This struggle lasted more than 16 years with short breaks, and, despite the volatility and fluctuations of military happiness, it nevertheless ended with important results for Muscovite Russia.
Fight with Lithuania for Smolensk
When Prince Alexander of Lithuania died childless, Vasily III, through his widow (his sister), Princess Elena, tried to induce Lithuania to recognize the Grand Duke of Moscow as a Lithuanian prince and peacefully unite both powers in his hands. But the cleverly conceived attempt failed, and Alexander's brother Sigismund I the Old was elected prince of Lithuania, at the same time elected to the Polish kings. Then, on the first occasion, a war broke out and began so unsuccessfully that Sigismund hastened to end it with "eternal peace" with Moscow (1507). The "eternal" peace did not stand even for five years: in 1512 the war resumed with new bitterness, and at the same time all the efforts of the Russians were directed towards the conquest of Smolensk. For three years, Moscow troops under the command of the Grand Duke approached the walls of this stronghold, and finally in 1514. Smolensk was forced to surrender to Vasily and again became part of the Russian lands after almost a century of being ruled by the Lithuanian princes. The Grand Duke of Moscow solemnly entered the city, confirmed the rights given by the Lithuanian princes, and allowed everyone who did not want to remain in his service to leave the city. The courageous prince V. V. Shuisky was appointed governor and governor of Smolensk. The conquest of Smolensk and its region was consolidated so firmly that even several defeats suffered by the Russian army during the last seven years of the war did not give Lithuania and Poland the opportunity to return this important conquest. In 1522, a truce was concluded, according to which Smolensk remained with the Moscow prince; and although the war was no longer renewed under Vasily III, it was still only the beginning of that fierce 250-year struggle of Russia with Poland and Lithuania for its western border - a struggle that ended in the triumph of Russia and the fall of Poland.
attitude towards the Tatars. Crimea and Kazan
Far from being so successful was the Tatar question for Russia at that time. Faithful ally of Ivan Mengli Giray died; his sons, taking advantage of the endless war of Vasily III in Lithuania, bribed by Poland, worked out a situation that was unfavorable for Russia and beneficial for the Crimean predators. Protected by the wide southern Russian steppes, every spring these predators began to make devastating raids, first on the outskirts of Russia, and then penetrate into it. At one time, when the Crimean Horde entered into close ties with Kazan, this position, occupied by the Tatars, began to inspire very serious fears to Vasily. I had to fight with Kazan, lay new fortified cities on the Volga (Vasilsursk), and protect the southern steppes of the outskirts of Russia with a system of fortifications and fences stretching for hundreds of miles. At this time, although the first mention of the “Ryazan Cossacks” is found in the annals as early as 1444, on the outskirts of the steppe space, on the Dnieper and Don, the worst enemies of predatory nomads appear, the most zealous defenders of the Russian land - the Cossacks, who of their own free will took on themselves guard service and waged a constant struggle with the Tatars and other steppe nomads. However, all these measures did not save Russia from the Crimean Horde gravitating over it: for another 200 years they ravaged and plundered the Russian land. Their robberies stopped only with the conquest of the Crimea under Empress Catherine II.
Characteristics of Vasily III
It was not for nothing that Karamzin said that "the founders of great monarchies are not distinguished by tenderness of heart." This review of his, perhaps, should be applied to Vasily III to an even greater extent than to Ivan III. He inherited his father's firmness in government, and his mother's pride and inaccessibility in relations with courtiers and boyars. Even more than his father, he surrounded himself with luxury, wealth and splendor. On ceremonial occasions, he appeared in brilliant royal clothes, in a golden hat sprinkled with precious stones, surrounded by a richly dressed retinue of boyars and an honorary guard standing at the throne. The ambassadors of Emperor Charles V, who accidentally met near Mozhaisk with the Grand Duke of Moscow, who had gone hunting, were amazed at the brilliance and splendor of his retinue. But even more than his father, Vasily moved away from nobles and advisers and trusted only a few favorites. On the part of the boyars and close associates, he did not allow the slightest contradiction and for any disobedience punished them with disgrace, exile and even the death penalty. He treated the descendants of the specific princes subject to him no less severely: in case of any suspicion, he summoned them to Moscow for trial and imprisoned them. Baron Sigmund Herberstein, who closely looked at Vasily and his court, became well acquainted with Muscovite Russia during his two travels, had the right to say that he "does not know a sovereign more powerful in Europe than the Grand Duke of Moscow."
The date of the liberation of Russia from Tatar-Mongol yoke traditionally considered to be the year 1480 and associate this event with Standing on the Ugra. However, in reality, everything was much more complicated. The struggle of the Russian people against the conquerors, which began already in the middle of the 13th century, gave its results: during the 13th-15th centuries, the forms of dependence of Russia on the Horde gradually changed in the direction of weakening, and in the 15th century this dependence was reduced mainly to the payment of tribute, while, in At the end of the 14th and in the 15th centuries there were long periods of time when no tribute was paid at all and Muscovite Rus was in fact an independent state. In addition, the data of sources at our disposal allow us to assert that the cessation of tributary dependence, and hence the liberation of Russia, occurred somewhat earlier than 1480.
In the first century of the yoke, the struggle against the Tatar-Mongols took place in the form of popular uprisings and individual cases of armed opposition to the Horde by the princes. However, in the context of the overwhelming military superiority of the Tatar-Mongol and the lack of unity of the Russian principalities, such performances, even if they ended successfully (for example, the uprising of 1262 or the defeat of the Tatar detachment by Dmitry Pereyaslavsky in 1285), could not lead to liberation, and even such goals our princes, apparently, did not put before themselves, the cases of armed rebuff to the Tatars, with rare exceptions, were associated with princely civil strife. Nevertheless, already at the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century, significant results were achieved, the situation began to change: by the end of the 13th century, the collection of tribute passed to the Russian princes, the Baskaks disappeared. AT last quarter XIV century there was a radical change in relations between Russia and the Horde, the national liberation struggle of Russia with the Mongols-Tatars, in contrast to the previous period, took on an organized character and was aimed at complete liberation from foreign domination. The strengthening of the Moscow principality and a favorable foreign policy situation associated with long-term civil strife in the Horde allowed Moscow to refuse to pay tribute in 1374, a series of battles with the Horde took place in 1377-1378, and finally, in 1380, the Russian people won the Great Victory on the Kulikovo field. And even despite the fact that in 1383 Moscow, in connection with the invasion of Tokhtamysh and the transition to the side of the Horde of neighboring principalities, was forced to temporarily resume the payment of tribute, the significance and results of the Kulikovo Victory and the struggle that preceded it were enormous: the most severe forms of dependencies of Russia, associated with the approval of the power of the Russian princes by khan's labels, the great reign was established for the Moscow princes, i.e. in fact, the yoke was reduced mainly to the irregular payment of tribute. In addition, tributary dependence was restored for a fairly short period, until 1395, when, taking advantage of the defeat of the Horde by Tamerlane, the Moscow principality again stopped paying "exit" and even took offensive actions against the Horde, so in 1399 the Moscow troops made a successful campaign on the lands, were part of the Golden Horde. Thus, Muscovite Rus entered the 15th century as an independent state, completely free from Horde domination.
Naturally, the Horde could not come to terms with the loss of power over Russia, and in 1408 the Horde ruler Yedigei launched a large-scale invasion, but failed. Despite the significant damage caused by the ruin of a number of cities in the Moscow principality, Edigey failed to take the capital and force Vasily I to resume paying tribute. From the message sent by Edigey to Vasily the following year, one can get information about the relationship between Russia and the Horde at the beginning of the 15th century: the trips of the Grand Duke to the Horde are stopped: “So Temir-Koutlui sat on the kingdom, the oulous sovereign repented, so from those places the tsar was not in the horde, you didn’t know the tsar, neither the princes, nor the oldest boyars, nor the lesser ones, nor did you send him. So this kingdom passed away, and then Shadibik reigned for 8 years: you haven’t been like that before, you haven’t sent a son or a brother with anyone with a word. The kingdom of Shadibikov is so minoulo, and now Boulat has sat on the kingdom, for the third year to reign: you haven’t been the same, neither son nor brother and the oldest boyar "(Novgorod IV chronicle. PSRL. T. 4 http://psrl.csu.ru/toms/Tom_04.shtml),; at the same time, sometimes Moscow even tried to use the horde for its foreign policy purposes, for example, in the period 1404-1407, Moscow, promising to resume the payment of tribute, but in reality without paying it ( “And how do you send complaints and letters of complaint to us every now and then, and how much do you say that “the oulous is exhausted, and there’s nothing to get out of”? Ino we did not know your oulous before, but we heard only; and that your orders or your letters to us, then you lied to us all; and what did you have in your dzhava from every oulus with two ruble, and where is the silver to go?”(Novgorod IV chronicle. PSRL. T. 4), used (in 1407) mercenary Tatar detachments to fight Lithuania. However, in 1412, Vasily Dmitrievich made a trip to the Horde, accompanied by the payment of tribute. The reason for the change in Moscow's policy was the unfavorable political situation. Shortly after the invasion of Moscow, Edigei, having not achieved his goals by military means, restores the independence of the Nizhny Novgorod principality, which was annexed to Moscow in 1392. In 1410, Nizhny Novgorod and Tatars sacked Vladimir. Military operations against the princes of Nizhny Novgorod, undertaken the following year, were not successful, the Moscow army was defeated. The need to return the Nizhny Novgorod land under the rule of Moscow was the reason for the resumption of relations with the Horde. Nevertheless, there was no return to the times of the XIII-XIV centuries: the great reign remained with the Moscow princes, in foreign policy issues Moscow acted quite independently, while showing open disobedience to the will of the khan, for example, not having achieved a return during his trip to the Horde Nizhny Novgorod, Vasily I in 1414 nevertheless restores control over the Nizhny Novgorod land, by force removing the Nizhny Novgorod prince from power, despite the fact that the latter received the khan's label.
There is no exact data on how regularly tribute was paid after 1412. An indirect confirmation of the fact that Moscow Rus, at least in the second half of the 20s and until the beginning of the 30s of the XV century. did not pay the "exit" may be Tatar raids on Galich and Kostroma in 1429 and a campaign against the Horde of Moscow troops in 1431. Although it is possible that these attacks of the Tatars could be ordinary predatory raids carried out without the sanction of the khan, while about some or invasions like Edigeev or Tokhtamyshev, which were undertaken by the Tatars in the event of Moscow's refusal to pay tribute, the sources do not report. But on the other hand, it is also possible that due to the almost constant Horde strife, the khans simply did not have the opportunity to organize a large-scale invasion, and it is likely that in 1413-1430, tribute was either not paid at all, or paid rarely and irregularly .
It is only known for certain that the payment of tribute resumed after 1431, when the son and brother of Vasily I, Vasily II Vasilyevich and Yuri Dmitrievich, competing for the grand prince's throne, in an effort to win over the khan, visited the Horde, and continued in the 30-50s XV century, despite the collapse of a single Horde state. In the 1930s, civil strife once again resumed in the Horde, which ultimately led to its collapse: the independent Kazan Khanate, the Crimean Khanate, the Horde of Said-Ahmad, and the Siberian Khanate were formed. The largest state formation - the "legal successor" of the former Golden Horde, becomes the Great Horde. Thus, as during the “great zamyatna” of the 14th century, quite real prerequisites were created for the complete liberation of Russia from the remnants of the Horde dependence, but this did not happen, the reason for which was the many years of civil strife in the Moscow principality, called the “feudal war”. Only united Russia was able to successfully resist the horde, but in the absence of unity and internecine war, dependence on the Horde continued to persist. As for the trip in 1431-1432 to the Horde of Vasily II and his uncle Yuri Dmitrievich and the dispute between them about the label, at first glance it may seem that it is no different from the trips of Russian princes to the horde of the XIII-XIV centuries, but unlike those times when the princes were obliged to appear in the Horde at the request of the khan, the reason for visiting the horde in 1431-1432 was not the will of the Horde ruler, but the initiative of the warring princes themselves, each of whom, in the conditions of a struggle for power, expected to find an ally in the person of the khan. As you know, Yuri Dmitrievich failed to achieve a great reign with the help of the Tatars, Khan Ulu-Mohammed preferred to give the label to Vasily II. Nevertheless, no one considered the will of the Khan for a long time, so immediately upon returning to Russia, Vasily II violates the Khan's order and takes away from Yuri the city of Dmitrov, given by the Khan to Yuri, and Yuri himself overthrows Vasily in 1433. Thus, even during the feudal war, the situation continues to persist in which the dependence of Russia on the Horde was expressed solely in the payment of tribute. In addition, in the 40s, in connection with the collapse of the Horde, Muscovite Russia had to deal with several Tatar hordes, paying tribute to some khans and repelling the raids of others. After the overthrow of Ulu-Muhamed, tribute was paid to the Great Horde of Kichi-Muhamed, as a result of the defeat in 1445 from the founder of an independent khanate Ulu-Muhamed and the capture of Vasily II, the latter was forced to pay tribute to the Kazan Khan, but dependence on Kazan did not last long: under 1447 there were information about the payment of the "exit" to Said-Ahmad, and under 1448 about the repulse of the invasion of the Kazan Tatars on Vladimir and Mur, in the same 1448, tributary relations with the horde of Said-Ahmad ended, while the latter repeatedly (in 1449, 1451, 1454, 1455, 1459) undertook attacks on the Moscow principality, which were successfully repelled by Russian troops. Armed clashes in 1448-1459 with the hordes of Ulu-Mukhamed and Said-Ahmad are evidence of the absence of tributary relations with these state entities. However, based on this, it is not necessary to draw a conclusion about the end of the Horde yoke. The fact is that the sources do not mention any military clashes with the Great Horde of Kichi-Muhamed, in connection with which it can be argued that tribute was paid in the period from 1448 to 1459 to the Great Horde.
However, the situation is changing in the next decade. In 1459, the Russian troops inflicted a defeat on the Said-Ahmadova horde, soon the state itself, who was captured by the Lithuanian and Said-Ahmad died there, soon ceases to exist, and under the year 1460, the annals report an attack on Ryazan already by the Great Horde troops. It should be borne in mind that starting from 1456, the Ryazan principality, formally continuing to remain an independent grand principality, was actually annexed to Moscow, the young Ryazan prince was in Moscow, and Ryazan itself was ruled by Moscow governors. So the attack on Ryazan was a hostile action in relation to the Moscow principality. In this regard, it can be assumed that in 1459, after eliminating the danger from Said-Ahmad, Vasily the Dark broke off relations with Kichi-Muhamed, which was the reason for the Tatars' campaign against Ryazan. However, another explanation of this event is also possible: it is known that after the death of Kichi-Mukhamed, his two sons Mahmud, who was the khan during the invasion of Ryazan, and Akhmat (the same “hero” of standing on the Ugra) remained. In the annals, the khan who led the campaign against Ryazan is called in one case "Akhmut", and in another - Mehmet", i.e. it is not clear who was the organizer of this invasion: if Mahmud, who was Khan at that time, then in this case the reason for the invasion could well be Moscow’s refusal to pay tribute, but if it was Akhmat’s raid not authorized by the khan, then talk about stopping the payment of tribute in 1459-1460. prematurely. Thus, the question of whether tribute was paid at the end of the reign of Vasily II the Dark remains open. But already from the beginning of the independent reign of Ivan III, one can confidently assert the termination of tributary relations, as evidenced by the failed invasion of 1465: “The same summer, the godless Tsar Mahmut went to the Russian land with the entire Horde and was on the Don. By the mercy of God and His most pure Mother, King Azigireus came to him and beat him and took the Horde. And we began to fight between ourselves, and so God deliver the Russian land from the filthy ones ”(Nikon chronicle. PSRL. T. 12, pp. 116-117 http://psrl.csu.ru/toms/Tom_12.shtml)
At the same time, this chronicle message contains an important detail about the fact that the khan went to Russia “with the whole horde”, from which it becomes clear that this was not just a raid, but a general Horde large-scale action, the reasons for which were nothing more than the non-payment of the “exit ' cannot be explained. Then the Tatars failed to carry out their plans, the Greater Horde army was subjected to a sudden attack by the Crimeans and defeated, and Mahmud was soon overthrown by Akhmat. And although there were no major Horde invasions until the end of the 60s, nevertheless, the danger from the Great Horde remained: in 1468. there were Tatar attacks on the southern outskirts of Russia, therefore, in the second half of the 60s, tribute was not paid, and Russia was at war with the Horde. However, there is information about the resumption of tributary relations in the early 70s. The Vologda-Perm chronicle, when describing the Standing on the Ugra, explaining the reasons for the campaign of Akhmat in 1480, provides important information that allows us to establish the date of the final cessation of tribute payments: “Ivan’s delusion came, but for his lie, that he doesn’t come to me, but he doesn’t hit me with his forehead, and THE NINTH YEAR DOES NOT GIVE ME OUT”(Vologda-Perm chronicle. PSRL. T. 26. http://psrl.csu.ru/toms/Tom_26.shtml).
Consequently, in 1470-1471, after a long break, the tribute was again paid. What caused such an unexpected decision of Ivan III. The answer lies in the difficult situation connected with the relations of Muscovite Russia with Novgorod and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From the annals it is known that in 1470 a Lithuanian ambassador arrived to Akhmat with a proposal for a joint Lithuanian-Tatar campaign against Russia. In addition, it was at this time in Novgorod that important events, which eventually led to the Battle of Shelon and the subordination of the Novgorod Republic to Moscow Russia. Considering that the threat of the attacks of the Tatars and the joint Lithuanian-Tatar invasion was quite real, it can be assumed that Ivan III chose not to risk it, and decided to pay tribute, thereby protecting Russia from a possible attack, since the invasion of the Tatars, at a time when the main military forces of Muscovite Russia were involved in the Novgorod campaign, which created a serious danger for the Moscow principality. Indirect confirmation of this is the chronicle report about the presence of the Russian ambassador Grigory Volnin at Akhmat in 1472, whose tasks probably included the delivery of tribute to the Horde, as well as an attempt to disrupt the plans of the Lithuanian-Tatar campaign against Russia. In fact, this tribute payment had little in common with the usual practice of tributary relations between Russia and the Horde, in fact, being a diplomatic move in order to prevent the invasion of the Horde at an unfavorable time for Moscow. And as subsequent events showed, Ivan III managed to achieve his goals: in 1471, during the war with Novgorod, when the military-political situation favored the Tatars, the invasion did not take place most likely as a result of the timely paid "exit".
However, to avoid the invasion still failed. Considering that since the beginning of the reign of Ivan III, Russia had stopped paying tribute, and was a completely independent state, the Horde understood that it was possible to restore long-lost power over Russia only as a result of a decisive military defeat to Moscow. And in 1472, the second, after 1465, large-scale invasion of the Great Horde followed. From July 29 to August 1, the confrontation lasted, thanks to the courage of the defenders of Aleksin, who died but did not surrender, the soldiers of the governor Peter Chelyadnin and Semyon Beklemishev, princes Vasily Mikhailovich Vereisky and brother Ivan III Yuri Vasilyevich, who stopped the onslaught of superior forces of the Horde at the Oka crossing, and timely the concentration of the main Russian forces that reliably covered the Oka line, the invasion of Akhmat ended in complete failure. “For this reason, the packs of the Tatars went along the shore to the Otsa with a lot of force and rushed all into the river, wanting to go to our side, since there was no army in that place, bring our own bysh to a deserted place. But only Pyotr Fedorovich and Semyon Beklemishev stood here with small big people, and Tatars wandered over to them. They began to shoot with them and fought a lot with them, they already had few arrows, and they thought to run away. And at that time, Prince Vasilei Mikhailovich came to them with his regiment, and half a dozen of Prince Yuryeva Vasilyevich arrived at the same time; at the same hour, Prince Yury himself came after them, and so began to defeat the Christian Tatars.(Simeonov Chronicle. PSRL vol. 18, p. 242) http://psrl.csu.ru/toms/Tom_18.shtml Russia won not only a military but also a political victory: it was from 1472 that the payment of tribute finally stopped, therefore, then, in 1472, and not in 1480, and the final liberation of Russia from the Horde dependence took place. As for the famous "standing on the Ugra", it was just an attempt by Akhmat to restore the already overthrown yoke. Not having achieved in 1474-1476. By diplomatic means of his goals, in 1480 Akhmat, who by this time had managed to temporarily subdue the Uzbek and Astrakhan khanates, organized a new invasion, which was the last attempt of the Great Horde to regain the long-lost power over Russia, but as you know, it ended in nothing.
The process of liberation from the Tatar-Mongol domination was long and went through several stages. The “first liberation” took place already in 1374 during the “reconciliation with Mamai”, and although in 1383 tributary relations with the Horde were temporarily resumed, in 1395 the independence of Muscovite Russia was restored for a rather long period, until 1412. In fact, the period of the late XIV - early XV was a turning point in the national liberation struggle of the Russian people, which resulted in liberation from the most severe forms of dependence associated with the Horde's complete control of the internal political life of Russia, and the final liberation from the yoke, expressed in the XV century in mainly in the payment of tribute, it became only a matter of time. A long civil strife within the Moscow principality postponed the moment of liberation, but after its termination, Moscow again in 1462 (and possibly in 1459) stops paying tribute. The last time the tribute was paid was in 1470-1471, and in 1472 Russia was finally freed from the remnants of the Horde dependence.
1. In 1480, the Mongol-Tatar yoke was overthrown, which, to a large extent, was the result of the activities of Ivan III, one of the most progressive Russian princes of that time. Ivan III, the son of Vasily the Dark, ascended the throne in 1462 and ruled until 1505. During his reign, fateful changes took place in the life of Muscovite Russia:
- Russia was finally united around Moscow;
- the Mongol-Tatar yoke was overthrown;
- Russia became the political and spiritual successor of Byzantium;
- the first Sudebnik of the Moscow State was compiled;
- the construction of the modern Moscow Kremlin began;
- Moscow prince became known as the Sovereign of All Russia.
2. The decisive step in the unification of the Russian lands around Moscow was the suppression of two feudal centers that had competed with Moscow for many years:
- Novgorod in 1478;
- Tver in 1485
The annexation of Novgorod, an independent trade democratic republic, to the Muscovite state took place by force. In 1478, Ivan III, worried about the desire of the Novgorodians to join Lithuania, came to Novgorod with an army and presented an ultimatum. Novgorodians, whose forces were inferior to Moscow, were forced to accept him. The Novgorod veche bell, a symbol of democracy, was removed from the bell tower and taken to Moscow, the veche was dissolved. It was during the annexation of Novgorod that Ivan III was first publicly presented as the Sovereign of All Russia.
3. After the unification of the two largest Russian centers - Moscow and Novgorod, the next step of Ivan III was the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke:
- in 1478 Ivan III refused to pay tribute to the Horde;
- Khan Akhmat, together with the Golden Horde army, marched on Russian lands;
- in October - November 1480, the Russian and Golden Horde armies became camps on the Ugra River, which was called "standing on the Ugra River";
- having stood on the Ugra for a month, on November 11, 1480, Khan Akhmat gathered his army and left for the Horde.
This event is considered the moment of the end of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, which lasted 240 years.
However, standing on the Ugra River is a symbol of the overthrow of the yoke, but not its cause.
The main reason for the rather easy overthrow of the yoke is the actual death of the Golden Horde in 1480-1481.
The geopolitical situation in the world was changed by the Turks who came from Asia:
- first, in 1453, the Turks crushed the 1000-year-old Byzantium and took Constantinople;
- then came the turn of the Golden Horde (also an enemy of the Turks), which in the 1460s - 1470s. subjected to devastating raids from the south;
- in 1480, the Crimean Tatars, allies of the Turks, opened a “second front” for Russia, starting an invasion of the Golden Horde.
In addition, in the Golden Horde itself (by that time it had already changed its name several times - the White Horde, the Blue Horde, etc.) there were centrifugal processes - similar to those that led to the collapse of Kievan Rus. By 1480, the Golden Horde had actually disintegrated into small khanates. Sometimes these khanates were "gathered" by one of the "strong people" - military leaders or khans, the last time the Golden Horde was united by Akhmat, who then tried to restore the vassal dependence of Muscovite Russia. However, while standing on the Ugra, news came of a new invasion of the Crimean Tatars and a new “Zamiatin” (civil strife) in the Golden Horde. As a result:
- Khan Akhmat was forced to urgently leave the Ugra in order to fight against the invaders invading from the south;
- in 1481, the army of Akhmat was defeated, Akhmat, the last khan of the Horde, was killed, and the Golden Horde ceased to exist and broke up into small khanates - Astrakhan, Kazan, Nogai, etc. That is why, having left the Ugra on November 11, 1480, the Mongol- the Tatars never returned.
The last attempt to revive the Golden Horde was made in 1492, but was thwarted by the Turks, Crimean Tatars, and local separatists. The Golden Horde finally ceased to exist. 4. The Muscovite state, on the contrary, was gaining strength and international prestige. Ivan III married Sophia (Zoya) Paleolog, the niece of the last emperor of Byzantium (the Eastern Roman Empire, which collapsed in 1453, like the Golden Horde, under the onslaught of the Turkish invasion). The young Moscow state was declared the political and spiritual successor of Byzantium. This found expression both in the slogan: "Moscow is the Third Rome" (after Rome and the "Second Rome" - Constantinople), and in the borrowing of Byzantine symbols and symbols of power:
- Coat of arms of the Palaiologos family - the double-headed eagle was taken as the coat of arms of the newly formed Russian (Moscow) state;
- gradually, a new name for the country was borrowed from Byzantium - Russia (Russia is the Byzantine version of the name Rus; in the Byzantine language, for ease of pronunciation, the letter “u” in the name of the countries changed to “o” and the ending “-ia” (-ia) was added), for example, Romania sounded like Romania, Bulgar like Bulgaria, Rus like Russia).
In honor of the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke under Ivan III, construction began on the symbol of power - the Moscow Kremlin. According to the plan of Ivan III, the Kremlin was to become the residence of future Russian sovereigns and should embody greatness and sovereignty. The project of the Italian architect Aristotle Fiorovanti was taken as a basis, according to which, instead of the old white stone, the main part of the modern Moscow Kremlin was built from red brick. Also under Ivan III in 1497, the Sudebnik was adopted - the first code of laws of an independent Russian state. This Code of Laws legalized:
- unified system of state bodies;
- unified system of government;
- the right of peasants to change landlords ("Yuryev's day").
During the reign of Ivan III, the expansion of the territory of Russia to the east began. Yes, in the 80s and 90s. 15th century vast areas were mastered up to the Urals and the Arctic Ocean, as a result of which, under Ivan III, the territory of the Moscow State increased 6 times.
Ivan III died in 1505, leaving behind a strong, prosperous and independent state.
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